The Sebastopol City Council, with the controversial CVS Pharmacy project still casting a shadow over downtown, is adding a chain store ban and solar energy requirements as possible ways to preserve the community`s identity and shape new development.

`Fiscal cliff` deal bodes well for green energy

President Barack Obama speaks at the TPI Composites Factory, which manufactures wind turbine blades, Thursday in Newton, Iowa, in this May 2012 file photo.

German solar power installations reach record high

New solar power installations in Germany has hit a record high in 2012 but tapered off as subsidies were cut, Environment Ministry data showed.

Main image for Turbines in Devon and Cornwall `being set up to make most cash`

Large wind turbines in the Westcountry are being down-rated to run with less powerful generators to cash in on government subsidies, a scientist campaigning against wind farms claims.

Budget Deal Provides Tax Brakes For Green Energy

Congress included an array of benefits for renewable energy and energy saving technologies in its "fiscal cliff" package.